


Movement

by Minatu



Series: Sylvix Over and Over Again [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alcoholic Sylvain, Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Baby I'm hurting, Bodyguard Felix, Drunk Sex, Drunkenness, Dubious Consent, M/M, Minor Caspar von Bergliez/Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert, Mutual Pining, No Beta Cause I don't talk to anyone ever, Noble Sylvain, References to Depression, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, What is love, bisexual sylvain, demisexual Felix, i wrote this when i hadn't slept for like two days i'm sorry, minor Ingrid pining for Seteth, minor Mercedes von Martritz/Annette Fantine Dominic, minor My Unit | Byleth/Linhardt von Hevring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 03:47:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20333536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minatu/pseuds/Minatu
Summary: “Ok, so for the gala, I’m gonna be your brother,” Felix said in a tone that said this wasn’t up for discussion, but Sylvain didn’t miss a beat with his response.“Not my spouse?” he smiled and winked at his frowning bodyguard.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “I'm moving up and on the run  
Somebody better help me son  
I'm moving up and on the run  
Somebody better save me son”
> 
> \- _Movement_ by Oliver Tree

"Ok, so for the gala, I’m gonna be your brother,” Felix said in a tone that said this wasn’t up for discussion, but Sylvain didn’t miss a beat with his response.

“Not my spouse?” he smiled and winked at his frowning bodyguard. 

“Fuck, _ no _,” Felix replied, “You’d forget like a dumbass and then I’d have to punch you in the face for flirting with someone else, and Ingrid would have my head for that.” 

“You don’t have to punch me to stop me, Felix,” Sylvain responded with a telling look. Felix didn’t garner that with a response, instead giving a Sylvain a look of pure disdain. 

“Maybe I should just sever the contract. _ This _,” Felix said motioning at Sylvain vaguely with a single hand, “Just doesn’t seem worth it.” He was talking into a crystal to Ingrid probably, and Sylvain mostly just looked amused by Felix’s annoyance. Though he was a bit disappointed he wasn’t going to get an excuse to kiss Felix. The idea of how Felix might react to that was extremely tempting. Felix mostly looked like he was agonizing over the idea of attending a stuffy noble gala.

“We don’t make very convincing siblings though,” Sylvain spoke thoughtfully.

“Your step-mother is my mother, so we’re unrelated by blood and only been recently acquaintanced, as your step-mother was a commoner before marrying your father,” Felix responded easily, “I don’t know why I had to explain that to you though. I figured you could pick up on that much at least.” Sylvain chuckled softly. 

“I had considered that would be the cover story. A bit scandalous for poor step-mother though,” He covered his smile with a single hand delicately. Felix watched the movement curiously. He could never get used to Sylvain’s almost lady-like reactions sometimes. He figured it was some noble thing he didn’t get. 

Despite being a noble himself, Felix hadn’t ever bothered with any of it. That was his elder brother’s, Glenn’s, thing. There was nothing particularly expected out of him as the second son. Sylvain should’ve been in a similar situation, but his own elder brother suddenly eloped with a woman of unknown origin, likely to escape the massive pressure the Gautier family had put him under. It was also apparent that Sylvain was being put under a lot of pressure himself, especially with the weight of his brother being a fuck up ever fresh in his parents’ minds, and considering Sylvain’s personality, their family was viewed as in a precarious position. Now, to top it all off with a disgusting bow, Sylvain was receiving death threats, likely from other greedy nobles who wanted to steal up the Gautier family’s lands when they were found heirless and unable to fend off Sreng. Honestly, Felix would feel bad for Sylvain if he didn’t constantly get on his last nerves.

Felix poked his head out of the room he and Sylvain were in to find Ashe outside the door. Ashe looked at him and sighed, “Need a break?” Felix nodded slightly, and Ashe smiled slightly.

“Happy to help. You two are like oil and water, huh?” he chuckled lightly to himself, placing a bookmark in his book and walking into the room. Felix instantly felt relieved once he was out of there. He was much better suited for standing watch like this and looking menacing. He would never understand why Byleth, his boss and owner of the bodyguard service, decided he should be the main guard for Sylvain. Then again, who ever understood anything the stoic, navy haired man was thinking. He was really full of mysteries, although he was also never wrong about what everyone was capable of. 

Ingrid appeared down the hall quickly walking toward him, “Taking another break from Sylvain already?” She had an amused smile on her face. Felix glowered at her.

“Whatever happened between you two? You used to be best friends,” she looked genuinely curious, but Felix didn’t want to talk about it.

“Nothing,” he responded stiffly, and she rolled her eyes, not believing his words but not pushing the topic any further either.

“Anyways, we received another threat this afternoon at the main residence,” Ingrid spoke, crossing her arms over her chest.

“All they do is threaten, at this point I don’t think they’ll ever make a move,” Felix growled. He would rather something happened, rather than having to go to the gala later that day.

“Well, you’re in luck then because they were rather specific about their plans to attack at the gala. Saying that Sylvain should watch himself closely where his bodyguard cannot follow,” Ingrid told him.

“Hmph,” he grunted. That was pretty lackluster of a threat.

“I think they’re more referring that you won’t have weapons or armor, so it’s likely more than one assailant,” Ingrid said seriously.

“If they even act on it,” Felix responded. 

Ingrid sighed, “Please prepare for the worst anyways. I’ll be there, but I won’t be close enough to immediately aid him if you go down quickly.”

“I get it,” Felix responded waving her off, “I’ll be prepared, ok?”

* * *

What Ingrid had said had been true. Felix and Sylvain had been best friends. The _ best _ of friends. When they were small they spent loads of time galavanting through the woods on their respective families’ properties pretending to be warriors and knights and often battling each other until they were out of breath and full of laughter and grins. 

Sylvain had been Felix’s rock once upon a time too. Felix used to be able to go to Sylvain whenever he was upset about something. Whether it be sobbing or wanting to tear things apart, Felix had always been quick to react emotionally. Glenn called him sensitive, lovingly, but Felix honestly hated that he did. 

There were times when Felix desperately missed what he’d had with Sylvain when they were kids. It had been simple and _ easy_. But then they become teenagers, hormonal and just bad at anything emotional.

Then Sylvain’s brother eloped, and that had been extremely difficult on Sylvain. For some reason, that led to Sylvain’s dramatic personality change. For Felix, it was like overnight Sylvain became a womanizer, constantly chatting up smiling girls and falling into bed with them, and Felix was pushed further and further away into Sylvain’s past. It had hurt and infuriated Felix to no end, and because of it, Felix found himself without friends and essentially an outcast in school because he had been unable to calm down anymore. It was as if he went onto the defensive at losing his closest friend. He shielded himself with barbs and biting words. 

It was around then that he also discovered he wasn’t straight. He had a number of uncomfortable dreams about Sylvain mostly. Once one about a professor he could barely remember anymore, but mostly it was just Sylvain... but not the “current” Sylvain. The one he dreamed about had the same face, sure, the same _ body_, but the personality of the person who he knew before Sylvain broke his heart.

Perhaps that was part of what caused him despise Sylvain as he currently was so much. The hurt. Because of that, he easily brushed off anyone that seemed even remotely similar in personality to Sylvain. He didn’t feel anything but general disdain for Lord Gloucester or the Von Aegir guy, so clearly it was just Sylvain. 

Felix could still remember the warm hugs Sylvain used to give him when he came to cry to him even though the last time was almost ten years ago. He had always loved how Sylvain would pat his head and silently comfort him until he felt better. Maybe it was because Sylvain had always been the one doing the comforting that everything fell apart for them. Sylvain had rarely ever had something to complain about other than how much of a pest his brother was, but Sylvain had never been particularly spiteful about Miklan’s abuse. He sympathized with the pressure his brother had been under and accepted his misdeeds as if they were ok. Felix had never been able to agree or convince Sylvain to reconsider his stance though.

Felix figured he’d spent enough time making himself feel terrible by dredging up he and Sylvain’s past for the time being. His chest felt tight, and he didn’t think he could handle much more introspection. 

* * *

It was finally time for the gala. Ingrid had chosen a suit for him, and without her aide, he likely would’ve looked out of place. He hated the thousand layer garb that was considered fashionable by the nobility. He would never understand why he needed a vest, jacket, and a tailcoat. Plus he hated having anything around his neck like this ruffled collar. Ashe did his hair too, lamenting that he didn’t have shorter hair, to which Felix could only grimace. He liked having long hair... and it wasn’t because Sylvain called it beautiful once and said he was cute with long hair when they were kids. That wasn’t it at all. 

“You look like a real noble like that,” Sylvain chuckled. Felix turned to look at him, a grimace already forming on his face.

“Whatever,” he responded tersely. He didn’t notice how Sylvain eyed him up and down as if he were looking at a him for the first time. Sylvain never looked at women this way. They never drew his gaze like Felix did in that moment. The finely tailored attire made Felix look refined and beautiful. Sylvain barely remembered to breathe.

“I think I like your usual scruffiness more though,” he spoke after they were in the carriage alone. Felix continued to glare at him from the other side of the coach. Sylvain merely smiled in response.

“I see we’re back to angry silence again. That’s too bad. I was enjoying our banter,” Sylvain smiled, continuing to talk as if relishing the sound of his own voice, “Though I suppose there’ll be plenty of darling ladies to chat up when we get there. And with that look you’re wearing, I imagine you’ll garner a bit of interest with them as well.”

“I’m not going to flirt. I’m not you,” Felix replied irritably. He really wanted the night to be over already.

“Sure, sure,” Sylvain laughed, waving his words off, “Though you could probably use a good bout with a lady though. You’re so tense. That would be sure to loosen you right up.” Felix’s frown turned into a look of disgust.

“Not interested,” he said.

“Of course you’re not,” Sylvain grinned in amusement, “As if you don’t crave it like everyone else.” There was a strange look in Sylvain’s eyes, and Felix felt intensely uncomfortable under that gaze, albeit a little turned on as well. Sylvain looked almost like a predator in that moment, like he might take Felix himself, and Felix would've liked that despite refusing to show that thought on his face.

“So I should want to lie with anything with a pulse like you do?” Felix asked, “You’re unbelievable.” Sylvain only laughed in response as the carriage came to a stop. The coachman opened the small window to speak.

“Sire, we have arrived,” he spoke gruffly in an unfamiliar voice. Felix’s eyes widened. How had he not noticed that the coachman wasn’t the usual one? Sylvain stiffened as well. An arrow flew through the window, and Felix pulled the dagger from his waistband as it flew between them. The arrow had been lit on fire. Felix pressed himself against the carriage door to find it blocked off. 

“Fuck,” Felix said from under his breath, removing his coat to put the arrow out. They were trapped in a wooden cage with no present hope for escape, and he had no idea how they would attack next. Felix had Sylvain move to the middle of the carriage while he attempted to break down the door, while one of the push cushions covered the window. He heard another arrow hit the cushion and smelled smoke. 

“It seems this one had something on it,” Sylvain spoke almost apathetically. Felix turned to see half the cushion in flames. Felix tapped his pale blue communication crystal.

“Ingrid, I hope you didn’t lose us,” Felix muttered to himself, wedging the knife into the frame and it came back red. Apparently they had someone holding the door. He slammed his body against it again, and it opened. In front of the door was a strange man, likely the coachman with an arrow through his throat. His body had been used to block the door. Felix glanced around at the dark woods, and grasped Sylvain’s wrist tightly. 

“Let’s move,” he spoke softly, clutching his dagger, his only weapon, tightly in his hand. He wished he had taken his sword anyway. They would’ve been better off if he had. Sylvain was quiet, but he kept up with Felix’s quick pace to get them into the woods where they’d be safer from the sniper. Once they were in the forest, Felix slowed the pace down considerably, searching intently for a spot to hide and wait for Ingrid. He couldn’t find anywhere good enough for him and the oaf to have any sort of personal space and swore internally.

He pressed Sylvain into a under a thick bush, quickly following in himself and the two of them found themselves tightly pressed together, but mostly hidden from sight. The poor moonlight likely helping them a lot. Sylvain looked like he wanted to make some sort of wisecrack, but held his tongue when Felix pressed a finger to his lips.

Soon Sylvain could also hear the soft footsteps of someone approaching. Felix grasped Sylvain’s upper arms tightly, ready to push him out of the way at any moment. 

“Felix?” came Ingrid’s soft, concerned voice. Felix let out a sigh of relief.

“Ingrid, thank fuck,” he said, jumping out of the bush with Sylvain close behind and causing Ashe to let out a silent scream. 

“I really thought you two would be in that bush,” Ashe breathed, clutching his chest and pointing to a much larger bush.

“Too obvious,” Felix responded without missing a beat.

“I’m glad we found you two though,” Ingrid said, “I was really worried when I saw a body in the flames that was once your carriage.”

“Come on, you know that’s not enough to kill me,” Felix responded, amused.

“Very true,” Ashe chuckled. Then his face went a little pale, and Felix moved immediately at the change in his expression, grabbing Sylvain and pulling him toward him and behind him. Felix earned a dagger to the gut. It was the dagger that he had in his belt, how? Ingrid rushed forward, sword in hand to cut down the assailant while Ashe looked around for other enemies. 

Felix felt a bit detached from the fact that there was a dagger in him. Yeah, it hurt, but it was also kind of surreal. Sylvain was grasping at him as he slumped down hands pressed around the dagger in him. 

“What do I do? What do I do? Felix?” Sylvain sounded panicked. His voice strained when he called his name. Felix was a little surprised by the sudden care that Sylvain was showing him, looking like he had when Felix had fallen out of a tree and broken his arm when they were younger. It almost made him smile despite himself.

“Don’t touch it. I could bleed out if you remove it, best keep it where it is. If it’s poisoned, then it is likely already too late,” Felix responded. Sylvain looked at him with wide eyes, hands holding his shoulders gently. 

“Don’t leave me like this, Felix,” Sylvain spoke sounding surprisingly vulnerable. He ran his hand over Felix's hair gently, barely holding in his tears. Felix felt irritated by his tone.

“You’ve already left me. I’ll leave whenever I feel like it,” Felix retorted, and Sylvain smiled slightly at his words. His warm hands continuing to stroke his hair gently.

“We’ve gotta get moving, Sylvain. That’s either Ingrid returning or we’re in trouble,” Ashe said, grabbing Sylvain’s shoulder. Sylvain’s grip on Felix tightened, and he started trying to pull Felix up to his feet. Felix pushed his hands away.

“Leave me,” he said. Sylvain looked affronted.

“No,” he responded. 

“Felix is right. He’s dead weight as he is right now. Ingrid will pick him up later, don’t worry,” Ashe said, pulling at Sylvain. Sylvain then lifted Felix like a princess in his arms.

“No way,” he affirmed. Ashe looked surprised that Sylvain could just carry Felix so easily.

“Hey, stupid,” Felix spoke, blood splashing from his lips, “You’re wasting precious energy on me. I’m disposable. You’re our client. Quit making our job harder.” Sylvain didn’t respond, following quickly after Ashe, and at some point Felix lost consciousness.

Ashe led Sylvain to the edge of the forest, before telling him to wait and running into the open and disappearing from sight for a moment before quickly returning. 

“We’re in the clear, but we’ve got to go quickly,” Ashe spoke in a quiet, rushed voice. He glanced down at Felix for a moment then turned to lead Sylvain out. Ashe was pretty sure the knife had been poisoned. Felix didn’t usually go down so easily from a mere knife. In fact, he knew the knife was poisoned because it was Felix’s knife. Hopefully it was a slow acting one. 

Ashe led Sylvain to a pair of horses and a carriage, finding Ingrid already standing beside it.

“Did you catch up to them?” Ashe asked quietly as Sylvain boarded the carriage, and Ingrid shook her head.

“They were too fast. We should go before they try again,” she replied hopping into the coachman’s seat. Ashe sat beside her quietly. They could hear Sylvain murmuring quietly to Felix, but couldn’t quite make out the words he was saying. 

* * *

Felix woke up in the hospital alone and with a start. He sat up quickly and immediately regretted it. He clutched his tender side with a pained expression. They could really use a mage on their team. It wasn't the first time one of them had ended up in the hospital, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Felix heard a soft giggle and turned his head to see Sylvain flirting with the nurse outside the door. He felt his heart sink. Some things really never changed. He had had a nice dream of Sylvain begging him not to die and telling him that he loved him, but clearly it had been just that. A dream. Felix laid back down on his bed, closing his eyes. He really didn’t want to talk to Sylvain, so he would just pretend to be asleep.

The door clicked open announcing Sylvain’s arrival with crinkle of plastic that encased a bouquet, “Still not up, huh?” His voice was soft, one Felix hadn’t ever heard Sylvain use before. Sylvain set the bouquet down somewhere and sat next to his bed.

“The nurse said you’ll probably wake up soon. Should I wait until then?” Sylvain asked the cold hospital air. He reached forward, gently pulling one of Felix’s hands into his. It took all of Felix’s resolve to not flinch at Sylvain’s warm touch.

“No... I think it’s better for you to think I don’t care,” Sylvain whispered, pressing a kiss to his knuckles then replacing the hand. Felix barely dared to breathe as he heard Sylvain stand and walk out. He was feeling extremely confused now. What did _ that _ mean?

* * *

Ingrid’s team was taken off of Sylvain’s case after an information pass off to Byleth’s team, which would be better prepared to deal with the increased threat to Sylvain’s life. This was mostly due to Felix being hospitalized, but also because they lacked a mage, that seemed necessary to now have assigned to Sylvain. Mercedes had also discovered that all of the threats contained notes of magic, which was never a good sign. 

Ingrid had sent Ashe to the hospital to inform Felix that they were off the case because she thought he might take it better if it was coming from Ashe instead of her. At least he’d be less likely to yell at Ashe, and Ingrid honestly didn’t have the patience to deal with Felix’s prickly attitude at the moment. 

* * *

Ashe entered Felix's hospital room quietly, finding the other man's gaze transfixed on the bouquet of white flowers next to his bed. Ashe was sure Felix had no clue what kind of flowers they were, but Ashe recognized them immediately. It was one of Sylvain's favorites, but he never gave them to ladies that he courted. Cyclamens. 

It was a little surprising that Sylvain gave them to Felix, considering Sylvain was well versed in the language of flowers and usually was very careful choosing what flowers he gave to people. Though the more Ashe thought about it, the more sense it made. The double meaning of the flowers good bye and true love. It seemed Sylvain was resolved to his family's decisions for him. Maybe that's why the two weren't friends anymore.

"We're off the assignment. Byleth's team has taken it over, due to the involvement of dark magic," Ashe spoke, breaking Felix's reverie. Felix looked over at him with a blank expression on his face.

"Ok," he responded. Usually Felix would protest more to be taken off of a job, saying he was perfectly fine and bounding out of bed and risking reopening his injuries like a maniac, so Ashe was more than a little surprised by this. It seemed Felix might actually hate Sylvain now. It was unexpected, to say the least, considering how Sylvain still appeared to have lingering attachments to him.

"Do- Do you, uh, want me to check you out then?" Ashe asked, struggling to disguise his surprise. Felix ignored Ashe tripping over his own feet though.

"Sure," Felix answered noncommittally, gazing at the flowers again. Did he actually know what they meant? Ashe honestly wasn't sure if he should ask. So he just scurried out of the room to flag down the nurse and start Felix's check out process.

.

Felix was relieved once he got back home to his apartment. He didn't take Sylvain's dumb flowers with him. He honestly didn't even understand why Sylvain gave them to him. He wanted to crush them under his feet and burn them the moment he saw them to be honest. Tear them to pieces even, but he didn’t. He just left them behind without ever touching them. He sank onto his air mattress with a heavy sigh and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his stomach. The wound had been closed with magic, sure, but it was still healing inside, and he was still recovering from the damage his own poison had done to him. 

He refused to think about how Sylvain reacted when he was stabbed. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Sylvain didn’t matter, and he figured as long as he told himself that it would eventually become true. 

* * *

Felix woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. He stood slowly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He quickly pulled his hair back in a ponytail, bangs already falling out of it. Felix shuffled over to the door opening it slightly to look at Ingrid and Ashe. Ingrid had a case of beer and Ashe had some take out in a plastic bag.

“What are you two doing here?” Felix grumbled, but let Ingrid push inside past him, followed closely by Ashe. 

“Making sure you don’t starve to death,” Ingrid responded placing the beer on the counter, “When are you going to get some real furniture?” She unfolded one of the chairs she had brought over a long time ago and opened a beer. 

“Eventually,” Felix answered vaguely, which really meant never. Ingrid raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t press any further. Ashe unpacked the food and went and cracked one of the windows to let some fresh air in. Neither of them really knew why Ashe did that, but he did it at everyone’s respective places so they kind of just accepted it as a quirk of his. 

“You could always just let me get you some,” Ashe spoke, “I know some people who could get you decent stuff for pretty cheap.” He gave a bright smile at that. Felix frowned slightly in response.

“Give up while you’re ahead, Ashe. It’s easier if you just show up with stuff. Felix likes to think he’s a minimalist,” Ingrid laughed. Felix ignored the both of them to look at what Ashe brought in the way of food, and took one of the cups of soup and a spoon before sitting on the floor with it. 

“I see,” Ashe said, “Is that how you got the chair?” Felix knew they were making fun of him, but he didn’t particularly care. Besides, he didn’t need furniture. He had a bed. Though Ingrid wouldn’t agree that an air mattress counted as one.

“Oh, Ashe how is you and Caspar’s cat by the way?” Ingrid said suddenly. Ashe smiled slightly.

“He’s finally slimming down now that Caspar has him on a strict diet. Apparently I was feeding him too many treats,” Ashe chuckled. Ingrid smiled back.

“I’m glad he’s ok. He was slimming down even with all your treats. He could barely stand at the shelter. It really made me sad,” Ingrid said, “It’s too bad my apartment wouldn’t let me have any pets.” Ingrid volunteered at the local shelter and would probably take all the poor animals home if she could feasibly take care of and support them. She had been sending photos of the cat to everyone she knew in hopes that the tubby thing could find a home. It had been a pretty sad sight to behold, unable to stand for more than a few minutes and always laying next to the food bowl and meowing for more.

“You wouldn’t believe how big he was if you saw him now!” Ashe said proudly, “You want to see some photos?” Ingrid grinned.

“Yes, please!” Felix couldn’t say he was completely disinterested in seeing the transformed black and white cat, but he didn’t act interested at all, merely continuing to spoon soup into his mouth and staring at one of the walls. Eventually he started to space out, ignoring what the two were chatting away about. 

“...Sylvain brought them,” Ashe said, “I can’t say I’m not surprised that Felix didn’t keep them.” Ingrid laughed.

“I can’t see why he would. They are kind of worthless,” Ingrid laughed, “What kind were they? I bet Sylvain picked them pretty carefully like always.” Ashe nodded at what she said.

“I think he did, to be honest. It was an interesting choice though,” Ashe replied, “They were Cyclamens.”

“Oh? What do those mean again?” Ingrid asked. Felix found himself pulled into listening to their conversation again. The beer weighing heavily on that. He didn’t know that flowers even meant things. So they were some kind of message he wasn’t supposed to receive? If nothing else, that had him interested. Ashe chuckled softly.

“Usually it’s a goodbye flower,” he said, “For like someone who moves away or something, you know?” Ashe said with a slight slur to his voice, obviously a bit drunk at this point. 

“Oh?” Ingrid responded, “That’s interesting. Do they mean anything else?” Ashe smiled.

“Yeah, I was about to say, they also mean true love,” he replied. Felix felt his cheeks grow red. _ They what_? Ingrid laughed loudly at that.

“Wow,” she spoke between chuckles, “True love? Sylvain really is a dumbass.” Ashe nodded at that. 

“Right?” he responded, “A part of me thinks the whole womanizer thing is just an act to pretend like he isn’t gay you know? For his parents or whatever? To make them feel better ‘cause he’s supposed to inherit everything and all now.” Ashe and Ingrid really did gossip like old women when they were drunk, but Felix didn’t particularly care.

“Oh definitely, I remember how he used to look at you know who,” Ingrid replied, leveling Ashe with a knowing look. Ashe laughed.

“He was _ so _ obvious, yeah,” Ashe said, “_Goddess _, I’m still not sure how they never noticed. Everytime we trained he was practically drooling.” 

“I remember that!” Ingrid laughed, “Glenn smacked him in the head with his sword once, telling him to focus on his opponent instead of that ass.” Ashe went red in the face from laughter at that. Felix honestly had no idea what they were talking about, though he did remember his brother hitting Sylvain in the head with a wooden sword a lot. 

“Do you remember Dimitri’s face when Glenn said ‘ass’ though? He looked scandalised!” Ashe responded. Ingrid laughed loudly.

“Right? His whole idea of Glenn, the Pure and Perfect Knight, was tarnished!” Ingrid smacked her knee, giggling at the memory.

“He was so embarrassed by the word, he lost for the first time to Felix who hadn’t heard a word!” Ashe responded. Ingrid continued to laugh at the memory of it all. 

“Even Mercedes laughed at Dimitri for being embarrassed by a word,” Ingrid said and then with a sigh, “I miss those days a lot sometimes.” Ashe nodded.

“Me too,” he responded, “It was nice, when everyone was still friends.” 

“Yeah,” Ingrid gave a sad smile into the beer can she held. 

Later, Caspar came and picked the both of them up, leaving Felix alone in his small, quiet apartment.

* * *

“Felix,” Byleth spoke, pulling him over with a hand, “Sorry to do this after you’ve returned from convalescing, but I need you to help me out with Sylvain. There’s another big event happening since quite a few nobles were unable to make it to the last one, and with Annette being due next week, we won’t have enough people to cover it.” 

“Ok,” Felix responded, even though he didn’t really want to. It wasn’t like he could actually say no to his boss. Byleth nodded.

“Thanks,” he said, patting Felix on the shoulder and walking off. Felix watched him leave the building and greet his husband outside. Linhardt looked like he’d just woken up for a nap, and Felix wondered if the man ever did anything else. Felix just shook his head and went to plop down at his desk next to Caspar.

“Hey, dude,” Caspar greeted him with a smile, “Sorry about Ashe getting stupid drunk at your place the other night. I think they wanted to cheer you up.” 

“It’s fine,” Felix replied, logging into his computer and reading his email quietly. Caspar was already typing away again, knowing better than to attempt conversing any further with Felix. When they had first met, Felix didn’t know that Caspar was even capable of shutting up.

* * *

Felix hated suits. He swears he had mentioned this to Byleth before, but the man simply hadn’t cared, sending him in as Sylvain’s shadow for the evening. Though at least he wasn’t the one on Sylvain, who was currently flirting with a third girl now. Felix felt a little bad for Ignatz, who looked like he was getting second hand embarrassment every time Sylvain opened his whore mouth. 

Felix was a little irritated, having to watch Sylvain flirt shamelessly like this. He’d rather avoid seeing any of it as it made him hurt a little in his chest and more irritable as time went on. He glanced up at the overlooking second floor to find Byleth, who had been discovered by his husband and was being used as a conversational shield. Bernadetta was probably watching from another spot that Felix didn’t have view of from where he was. She also protested to going at all, but for different reasons than Felix. 

Then suddenly, Sylvain locked eyes with Felix, looking a bit surprised. Felix’s brain took that moment to remember that the flowers Sylvain gave him meant “goodbye”, and it stung a little more with Sylvain’s brown eyes looking at him then. Then Sylvain gave him his usual mysterious smile and went back to chatting up the pink haired girl who was the fourth he’d taken up conversation with. The two ended up dancing together on the dance floor, and Felix didn’t like having to keep an eye on Sylvain like this at all. 

Felix sighed, making eye contact with Ignatz and motioning to the restroom. When Ignatz nodded in response, Felix made a beeline for the bathroom and shut himself away in a stall with a deep breath. He sat down on the lid and covered his face with his hands and tried to not think about Felix’s hand on the girl’s butt before she smacked it away with a laugh. He tried not to think about how Sylvain was planning on bedding her. Planning on having sex with someone that wasn’t him. He was already beyond tired of this job. He thought he would finally be able to move on after not seeing Sylvain since he was 17, years and years ago, but it just... hadn’t happened. Maybe it was because he never tried. 

Felix would rather be a ghost in his daily life though than try to fall in love again. Hitting pause on his life seemed easier. Never moving forward from losing his best friend. Never moving forward from losing his brother a year after that. Just still and watching life pass him by. He was fine with that. He was fine. 

The door squeaked open a moment later, and Felix heard what sounded like a slurred laugh from Sylvain. Then Sylvain burst into the stall Felix forgot to lock, hands on his pants with his boxers already visible.

“Oh fuck,” Sylvain spoke after a moment, but Felix was still in shock. He couldn’t believe he had forgotten to lock the door.

“Oh you’re not even...” Sylvain waved a hand at his lower body with a chuckle, “That’s too bad. I wouldn’t have minded seeing what you’re hiding in there.” Felix felt heat rush through him in two directions.

“What,” was all he was able to get out before Sylvain moved toward him with lidded eyes and a flush over his face, clearly more than a little drunk. Sylvain cupped Felix’s face gently with one hand, looming over him.

“You look amazing when your face is all red like this,” Sylvain said softly, and Felix could feel the warmth of his breath on his face. He feared his heart might stop, seeing Sylvain up this close. 

“And you’re drunk,” Felix responded, moving to push Sylvain’s hand away. His voice lacked its usual bite though. Sylvain didn’t move away though. 

“I mean, sure, but that doesn’t change what I said,” Sylvain responded, “Couldn’t you just stay right there looking like that for a minute for me?” He was biting his lip, and Felix suddenly realized Sylvain had a hard on. He felt himself flush harder.

“What the fuck?” he said, voice straining at the pitch. Sylvain looked like he wanted to eat Felix alive, and Felix’s own dick was loving it. He never imagined seeing Sylvain looking like this. Sylvain wrapped his arms around Felix’s neck, fingers sliding up into his hair and setting himself in Felix’s lap. Felix felt his brain shutting down.

“Please?” Sylvain whispered, brushing his lips against Felix’s cheek before resting his head against Felix’s shoulder. Felix was frozen, his mind still reeling at the entire situation. Sylvain moaned softly, hips pressing up against his and causing Felix to gasp softly. Felix was honestly a true glutton for punishment.

Sylvain pressed kisses into Felix’s neck gently, making Felix shiver before he pulled back to look into Felix’s auburn eyes with a glassy expression, “I will savor this moment forever.” He said it so softly that Felix almost didn’t hear it. But he barely got to think about because Sylvain was pulling himself out in front of him, and Felix let out a shaky breath he didn’t even know he was holding. Sylvain touched himself slowly, eyes locked onto Felix watching him. Sylvain’s free hand tangled itself further into Felix’s hair. 

Felix was forgetting himself with every soft grunt that Sylvain made, his fingers tightening on Sylvain’s hips. He wanted to touch Sylvain or himself, but something was holding him back from doing so. That something was getting closer to snapping as Felix flushed and rocked his hips faster. 

Felix licked his lips, eyes falling down, “Let me.” He moved Sylvain’s hand away, grasping him with his own hand. Sylvain shuddered at the feeling.

“Fe-felix, you don’t-” Sylvain didn’t get to finish his thought because Felix started moving his hand quickly. Sylvain moaned softly, attempting to keep quiet and barely succeeding. Apparently Felix’s touch was too much for Sylvain as he came barely a minute later. Sylvain was panting and out of breath, leaning heavily against Felix and breathing in his scent. 

Then Sylvain stood quickly, reordering his clothes and leaving without another word to Felix. Felix sat in stunned silence for a moment before becoming extremely irritated at himself for allowing Sylvain to use him like that. 

Felix sighed softly allowing himself to feel depressed for a moment, wiping his hand off with toilet paper and retying his hair. He made sure he looked unruffled in the mirror for a moment before walking out of the bathroom himself. 

Felix quickly scanned the room for Ignatz and Sylvain, adjusting his cuff slightly. He had ditched his tailcoat, but it probably wasn’t very noticeable considering there were plenty who had done the same. He took up at the edge of the dance floor, catching Ignatz eyes before turning his gaze back to Sylvain who has seemed to sober up a bit and is back to dancing with whatever lady he can get to agree. It upsets Felix more this time, when he remembers how Sylvain was just with him desperate and undone, until he remembers he was just a placeholder for whatever woman who had gotten him worked up before he came into the restroom. 

Felix felt disgusted with himself and ashamed, but he deflected it back onto Sylvain, unable to currently process his own self hatred. It was easier to just pretend Sylvain was the problem, and the scowl on his face only grew. Then there was a crash and a scream from above. Felix went to look in the direction it came from, finding a masked person notching an arrow, likely aimed for Sylvain. Ignatz was moving toward Sylvain, but with all the panicked dancers moving in every direction Felix wasn’t sure either of them could make it in time, but Felix’s feet moved anyway, knocking everyone down whoever got in his way.

Soon his hands found Sylvain’s arms and he quickly put himself in front of the angle he saw the sniper at, pushing Sylvain’s head down aggressively. He pushed Sylvain in the direction of the bar, shoving him behind it without a word.

“Hey, hey be gentle with me it’s my first time,” Sylvain joked, and Felix scowled at him.

“Shut up,” he said and looked to where he saw the sniper, but of course, they were already gone. He looked around the panicked ballroom searching desperately for the enemy, when Ignatz caught up taking up residence on the other side of Sylvain.

“Did you see the archer?” Ignatz asked.

“Yeah, but they had a mask on,” Felix answered.

“Damn. At least they missed their shot. I was too far away,” Ignatz responded, “They got the girl Sylvain was dancing with instead.” 

“What? Is she ok?” Sylvain asked, sounding more than a little concerned.

“Don’t know. She’s not my problem,” Ignatz said.

“What the hell?” Sylvain growled at Ignatz’s lack of care for another person. Felix rolled his eyes.

“We’re here to protect you. Not randoms. Anyone who thinks of a stranger first over their client is out of a job,” Ignatz informed Sylvain, “It’s unfortunate, but it’s what we’re paid to do.” Sylvain seemed to hate the answer Ignatz gave him but didn’t say anything else. The expression was soon gone through and replaced with his usual expression. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Sylvain said, punctuating it with an awkward laugh and rubbing the back of his head. Felix spotted another person with a new mask and no bow. Instead he saw a glimmer of something for a moment before it seemed to vanish. He quickly ducked behind the bar and the knife whizzed by landing in the wall behind him with a thud.

“It seems our hiding spot has been discovered. I’m counting on you, Felix,” Ignatz said, and Felix nodded and leapt over the bar quickly, pulling his dagger out of his waistband. Sylvain could hear a clang of metal, but didn’t dare look to see if Felix was ok, even if he wanted to. The masked person began to retreat when Felix ran at them, throwing an additional dagger as covering fire to slow Felix down. It was successful as Felix paused to deflect it, though he was still grazed by the blade. 

Seeing how far they had already gotten, Felix decided to give up chase, considering the number of assailants it would be better for him to return than give up a portion of Sylvain’s safety. 

“They got away,” Felix reported into his crystal observing the area carefully. He spotted Byleth holding a masked person to the ground on the upper level. At least they had caught one. He jogged back over to where Ignatz and Sylvain were hiding.

“Let’s move. They know Sylvain is here,” Felix said. Ignatz nodded, and they moved Sylvain slowly toward the doors. Felix went through them first and was immediately met with a masked person.

“Ambush!” Felix yelled, barely ducking out of the sword’s path. Ignatz and Sylvain had already disappeared somewhere out of sight. Felix held his dagger pointed down in his hand and shifted his body into a fighting stance with as little of himself visible as possible. His other hand held the metal scabbard for his knife. 

Considering the attacker had a two handed blade, things weren’t looking great for him as it was already difficult to deflect a blade, but a heavy one was often worse with his own comparatively short one. Hopefully luck was on his side and he’d be able to get in close before they could react. 

Either way, Felix had to move fast, hoping to put the swordsman on the defensive. He rushed forward catching their swing with his dagger and sliding it down the blade and getting into the swordsman’s space as quickly as he could and swiping at his hand, arm, and chest quickly before jumping to the side and out of his sword’s range. 

Unfortunately, all he had done was revealed the steel beneath the black fabric of the man’s outfit. Felix was probably fucked if the man was wearing full plate, and it likely wasn’t a good idea to try to find out. Chain mail would be even worse than full plate as he probably would be rendered incapable of anything more than causing a bruise, which was already unlikely considering that the dagger he had was intended more for cutting than stabbing. Felix backed off further, and Ignatz and Sylvain became visible for him. 

An arrow flew down from above and merely bounced off of the man. He glanced up to see Bernadetta notching another arrow. The armored man ran at him, metal scraping at the sound of his movements. Felix quickly dodged out of the way of the sword, but took a fist to the chest, and he could swear he heard his ribs crack. He spat up blood, but quickly scurried away from the swordsman who was clearly far better with his fists than a sword. 

Ignatz was moving Sylvain toward the door, so Felix resolved himself to distracting the assailant. Felix took up his fighting stance again with his back to Sylvain and Ignatz, ready to move when the man went to stop Sylvain from escaping. He surged forward at Felix, and Felix met him with his scabbard. He could feel his wrist giving under the pressure of the sword, and he swung with his free hand into the spot where there is often a gap in the armor at the armpit. 

His blade was met with resistance, but he merely drew back slightly to stab again, hoping it wasn’t chainmail. The man grunted, and Felix pulled back slightly, back out of range. The sword clanged when it hit the wood, Felix’s knife, red with blood. 

Felix then heard a loud boom and felt pain in his side. Confused, he looked down to see his clothes turning red with blood. _ What? _

“Felix!” he heard someone shout as he went to his knees. The swordsman was lifting his heavy blade again and gazing at him. It seemed like Felix was going to meet his death now. How unlucky. 

Felix forced himself back to his feet, pressing a hand to the hole his side and raising his dagger with the other, “You thought I’d go down easy?” Felix was grinning when he spat his blood at the swordsman who soon ran at him. Felix had stood up, but that was as far as his legs could take him. They were already shaking from the pain and the adrenaline was just pushing his blood out faster. 

His dagger was knocked away easily by the blade this time and he was run through by it. 

.

Sylvain had tried to run to Felix when he had fallen, but Ignatz was stronger than the lazy noble, pushing him out of the room quickly though he did feel a little bad leaving Felix to his own demise. Ignatz got Sylvain outside and turned over to Bernadetta and Caspar, and took a sword for Caspar before running back in to aid Felix. Sylvain was ushered into a carriage by Caspar. Ingrid sat at the reigns of it, and once Sylvain was secure inside she took off with it. 

“What’s the situation?” Caspar asked Bernadetta. She ducked her head to avoid his gaze, but managed a response, “Fe-felix probably died. One of them had some sort of fancy bow, I-I’d never seen before. It shoots the arrows super fast.” 

“Damn,” Caspar said, pulling out his axe, but they were met with Ignatz trying to heal Felix and all the masked assailants gone. Bernadetta hurried to help Ignatz out by adding her own magic into the mix, but all Caspar could do was watch, and hope Byleth showed up with a ride for them soon. 

* * *

Felix awakened once again in the hospital, this time a little surprised he lived. There were two new, angry red scars on his torso, and in the chair next to his bed, a surprising visitor sat in the chair fast asleep. Felix took in the sight silently for just a moment before throwing the first thing he got his hands on at Sylvain.

“Hey, dumbass. Go home,” Felix said,when Sylvain opened his eyes with an upset expression. His hair dripping water into his face.

“Huh?” Sylvain muttered, gaze fixing on Felix, then smiling.

“What? No love for the one who stayed at your bedside all night?” Sylvain asked with a pout, and Felix wished he had another plastic cup of water to throw at him. 

“Yes, now go sleep at home. I don’t want to see your face all day. It pisses me off,” Felix said irritably. Sylvain fake pouted for a minute before finally relenting to Felix’s scowl. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave,” Sylvain sighed, raising his hands up in defeat before standing up from the chair. He looked, well, tired. Sylvain’s hair was more ruffled than usual, lacking the tamed messiness it usually had and there were dark circles around his eyes that Felix had never really seen him have before.

“Don’t blame me if you end up missing me desperately though,” he added with a wink before walking out of the room. Felix didn’t watch him leave, staring instead at the wall with a scowl, which gave the opportunity for Sylvain to spare Felix one last look before he left. Felix had really almost died two days ago. Sylvain had wanted to say so many things that he didn’t. He had wanted to confess a thousand things that he just didn’t. Because he was too used to putting on the smile of a useless noble. The facade of a man who saw nothing but women. 

Sylvain returned to his residence to a mountain of paperwork to go through that his father assumed he was capable handling despite getting a barely passable crash course on it all after his brother disappeared off the face of the planet with just a note. After a few years of being painfully lost and without a single person to lean on for aide, Sylvain eventually figured it all out and fell into his brother’s job as if he’d always been the one doing it. 

Honestly, Sylvain had never wanted this job. He never wanted to be the heir apparent. He didn’t want to be a part of a family that saw nothing more than status and power. If he’d had a say in it at all, he would have spent every moment with Felix in sight. Even if Felix never looked his way, just seeing the other smile and continue to be alive would be enough. 

Eventually though, Sylvain knew it wouldn’t be enough. He’d been just a child when he’d thought just seeing Felix’s smile would be enough. He was greedy, and he wanted more. More than he could have without risking Felix’s life. He knew the depths his parents were willing to stoop to if Sylvain didn’t obey. He had seen it with Miklan. He had seen how Miklan grew twisted and into a shell of himself. Sylvain wasn’t brave or foolish enough to fight his parents.

So Sylvain played the role of the dutiful son. His only act of rebellion was salacious conduct when it came to women, refusing to commit or settle down. Every marriage meeting his parents sent him on, he would sabotage. He had no interest in people who saw him only for his money anyway. No, that was a lie. He had no interest in anyone who wasn’t Felix. 

Everyone who grew up with Sylvain had been aware of how in love with Felix Sylvain was. Even Glenn had teased him about it when he taught them all how to fight. The only one who hadn’t known was Felix, who had been transfixed on surpassing his brother, and always calling Sylvain his best friend with an innocent smile. 

Sylvain rubbed his temples and sighed, sitting back in his chair and staring at the ceiling. He needed a break. Sylvain pushed away from his desk and went out to the balcony, taking in a deep breath of the fresh air for a moment before removing a cigarette from his coat pocket. He’d been smoking ever since he broke off his friendship with Felix, and now he could never calm down without having one when he was at home. 

Sylvain could see Ignatz keeping watch in his peripheral vision. He let out a soft sigh, lighting it with magic and wishing for a moment that the people after his life would hurry up and kill him. He was getting tired of waiting to die. 

* * *

Sylvain got stupid drunk that night and blubbered to some woman about how he didn’t want to die, and she seemed to feel sympathy or pity enough to look after him for the evening. He never tried to do anything more than complain about his situation, and she complained about her own until they were both too drunk to really talk about anything, and he was eventually dragged out of the bar by a very irritable looking Ingrid, who looked like she was tired of watching him trying to drink himself to death. And Sylvain found he didn’t particularly care if she would be upset if he died or not. At least, not when he was this drunk and seriously weighing his options. 

Chase after love and find his lover dead in his bed by the hired sword of his parents, or accept that his fate was inevitable and end it before his misery caught up to him? Sometimes, Sylvain figured Miklan had killed himself instead of running off with a lover, but a body hadn’t turned up yet so who really knew? 

“I want to see Felix,” Sylvain slurred to Ingrid, and she rolled her eyes.

“Ah, so you can only be honest when so drunk you won’t remember a thing,” she said, then after a moment with a bit maliciousness, “He doesn’t want to see you.” 

“I know, I know,” Sylvain said sadly, pulling yet another cigarette from his coat’s inner pocket, “He hates me. I made sure of that. It’s for the best, I swear to you.” 

“Oh, is it really?” Ingrid asked sounding just as angry as she did the first time they had this conversation. Clearly time hadn’t managed to change her opinion in the least.

“So, I just have to watch you two mutually pine and steer yourselves head first toward destruction because it’s ‘For the Best’?” she scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest, “I seriously doubt that.” Sylvain laughed slightly at Ingrid’s innocence and turned his tired gaze out to the cool night air. 

“Please help him move on then,” he said softly, “Save Felix, at least. It’s far too late for me.” Sylvain didn’t see the stricken look on Ingrid’s face. He didn’t need to. He knew she wouldn’t like his answer. He didn’t like it. In a perfect world, he would get to have whatever he wanted, but this wasn’t that world. Instead, he had to bide his time, hoping his parents died before he did because he'd never be brave enough to run away like Miklan did.

* * *

Felix lay on his bed in his room, his thoughts full of the stolen moment with Sylvain at the party. Slyvain’s desperate face, his want. The feel of his lips on his neck. It was clear to him that Sylvain didn’t remember a moment of it. If he had, he wouldn’t have been so comfortable in his hospital room. Or maybe he would’ve. He didn’t know this Sylvain at all, after all. 

Even with his regret at consenting to what had happened, he still savored every second of the memory. He wanted Sylvain to make love to him just like that, and it had been all he could think about every night, exhausting him to no end. He touched himself at the thought of Sylvain’s face, and when he finally came, he felt like crying at his loneliness. 

Maybe moving on was too hard for him, he thought as he curled into his dirtied sheets, and tried to escape reality if even just for a moment. 

* * *

The next time Felix and Sylvain encountered each other it was a total coincidence. Felix had been dragged out by Ingrid and Ashe for some “necessary outside of work socialization” to a nearby bar, and Sylvain was already there getting completely wasted, but Felix hadn’t noticed him as the bar was packed with people as it often was at this hour. Sylvain had seen Felix enter though and was watching him like a hawk, too drunk to think better of it. 

Felix disliked how crowded the place was, and eventually had to excuse himself to go outside and get some space. Not long after he had gotten out into the cold air, he heard a familiar voice call his name from behind. It was Sylvain. Felix himself was a little buzzed, so he turned to the red haired man before he could think better of it. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” Sylvain smiled, reaching toward Felix and rubbing his hand on Felix’s arm gently. Felix didn’t think to pull away.

“Everyone goes to bars, dumbass,” Felix responded, but Sylvain let the words roll off his back. 

“Even so, I got to see you when I wanted to see you. That doesn’t usually happen,” Sylvain responded, chewing absentmindedly on a toothpick he probably got from a drink. Felix eyed him warily, unsure of how to deal with Sylvain’s personality change when he was drunk. 

“Don’t say shit like that,” Felix replied, turning away from Sylvain to hide his expression. Sylvain leaned in the direction Felix looked and smiled at the obvious blush on his face.

“Haha, you’re so cute!” Sylvain cooed merrily, showing the first real smile Felix had seen on his face in a long time. Felix felt his breath get caught in his throat at the sight and found himself only blushing harder, which made him furrow his brows. 

“Leave me alone,” Felix said, turning away from Sylvain completely as if that would make Sylvain go away. Instead, Sylvain wrapped his arms around Felix, and pulled him back into his warm chest. 

“Nah,” Sylvain replied before pressing his nose into Felix’s hair. Felix elbowed Sylvain and pushed him off of him quickly, entirely unprepared for any sort of human contact. 

“Don’t do that!” Felix said stiffly, looking visibly upset, but Sylvain remained unbothered. Sylvain stepped toward Felix, who responded by stepping back.

“Felix, I...” Sylvain spoke in a soft voice that tugged at Felix’s heartstrings, but he continued to move back from Sylvain’s pursuit until his back hit the wall. Soon Sylvain was all Felix could see. He was so much larger than Felix, but his expression was fragile. Sylvain’s hand cupped Felix’s face gently, his brown eyes staring intensely into Felix’s. Felix thought he should knock Sylvain off, try to take back control of the situation, and stop whatever was happening right then, but the thought grew quieter as the seconds ticked by and his drunken brain just wanted Sylvain to kiss him already.

Felix licked his lips, and that seemed to break the tension for Sylvain. He instantly dropped in to catch Felix’s lips in a rough kiss. Their teeth and noses knocked against each other, but that wasn’t a problem once they found comfortable contact. Sylvain grasped Felix tightly, pressing him harder into the wall, and likely hiding him away from sight almost completely. 

Felix let his hands move from being fisted at his sides to reach out and grasp Sylvain’s back tightly. He had thought about being kissed by Sylvain a lot, but it was very different in real life, but a good kind of different. Just kissing turned Felix on a lot more than he expected as well. Sylvain pulled back for a moment to breathe, pressing his forehead to Felix’s. He smiled at Felix, and Felix found himself giving a small smile back though, he wasn’t sure if Sylvain would be able to tell. Sometimes when he smiled like this, people couldn’t tell.

“Let me come back to your place,” Sylvain whispered, pressing more kisses onto Felix’s cheeks, then neck while he patiently awaited Felix’s response, though he was also distracting Felix quite a lot from thinking.

“O-ok,” Felix responded softly, not particularly concerned with his friends who were probably waiting for him inside. Sylvain pulled his hood up, hiding away his hair, and took Felix’s hand in his larger one.

“Then lead the way,” Sylvain grinned at Felix, and so he did. They made their way to Felix’s place about as quickly as a pair of drunk fools could, constantly stumbling over their own feet and feeling warm and excited despite the cold environment. 

As soon as they were inside Felix’s barren apartment, Sylvain was back to kissing Felix into oblivion. Felix was high on Sylvain’s kisses. He’d never felt this light since he was a child, racing through the cold woods and being chased by Sylvain. It was always Sylvain who made him feel like this. Intoxicating. All reasonable thoughts were out of his head the moment Sylvain was added into the equation, and Felix was always ok with that trade off. Even now, drunkenly making out with Sylvain in his studio apartment. 

Sylvain pressed Felix up into the door, his hips thrusting experimentally at Felix who gasped at the sensation of them rubbing up against one another, even through the ever tightening confines of his pants. Felix was panting for breath when their lips parted, Sylvain’s hands busying themselves with Felix’s belt. 

"I want you so bad, Felix,” Sylvain spoke in a breathless voice, and Felix felt himself quiver in excitement as Sylvain freed him from his pants.

“I want you too,” Felix responded, blushing at what he just said. Usually he wasn’t so honest with his feelings, but with Sylvain, it should be ok, right? Sylvain had never mocked him for being sensitive and whatnot before. 

“Good,” Sylvain smiled, his hand cupping Felix through his thin boxers. Felix’s mouth fell open with a throaty gasp, and Sylvain looked pleased by the amazing sound. He pressed kisses onto Felix’s lips, neck, and shoulder, nipping as he went along, and Felix struggled to not lose himself to the pleasure he was feeling. Not... just yet. He wanted more than this. He wanted Sylvain completely.

Felix ran his hands down Sylvain’s waist, slowly coming to the button of his pants and struggling to undo it. Sylvain chuckled softly into Felix’s shoulder and sent a little trill down his spine. He then waved Felix’s shaking fingers away and unbuttoned his pants for Felix, and shrugged off his coat, leaving him in a tightfitting blouse that Felix already wanted to pull off of him from what he could glean what was underneath it. 

“You’re surprisingly in shape for a playboy,” Felix teased suddenly, and Sylvain grinned at him. 

“Oh? You like that?” Sylvain responded, unbuttoning his shirt slowly to unveil his chest. Felix was practically drooling at the sight of Sylvain’s pale skin that was untouched by the sun and soft, ginger hair. Sylvain pulled Felix back in for a passionate kiss, Felix’s hands finding themselves exploring Sylvain’s warm skin. There were very few scars on Sylvain’s body, if any. Sylvain led them across the apartment slowly to Felix’s shitty excuse for a bed, but he didn’t comment on it, if he even cared, with how his lips barely left Felix’s body. 

They fell back onto the mattress and Sylvain quickly started back up with rubbing himself up against Felix, eliciting small, breathless gasps from him. Sylvain wanted to hear every noise Felix was capable of making. He _ had _to. He pushed Felix’s tunic up his chest, and began pressing more kisses against the warm skin he found there, slowly making his way down to the trail of warm hair. Once he was face to face with Felix’s erection, he felt excited and hot. He wanted to take it into his mouth, and see what kind of noises Felix would make for that. 

Sylvain kissed Felix through his boxers, and Felix _ moaned_. Goddess, Sylvain would do anything to hear that noise again. So he got to work, kissing and licking him and making sure his boxers were absolutely soaked before they pulled them off. Felix’s hands were tight in his hair, and his face was flushed. Sylvain loved how absolutely desperate Felix looked like, with those kiss red lips, half lidded eyes, and all for him.

He took Felix into his mouth grasping bottom of it with a couple fingers, and Felix obviously wasn’t ready for Sylvain to take him in like this because that _ strangled noise _ he made, surprised but pleased. That breathy _yes_, how Sylvain loved it. His own erection twitching and desperate as he sucked and pleasured Felix’s. He rocked his hips into the mattress, and was starting to feel like he might be able to cum just from _ this. _ Felix was just too fucking hot. 

Sylvain was a little surprised to see Felix wet his own fingers and traveled down to his entrance to slide in a finger. Sylvain pulled off of Felix with a grin.

“Is that not enough to get you off? You need me to take you?” Sylvain asked. Felix nodded slightly. He looked like he was beyond words at this point. Sylvain nearly came at the idea of getting to be inside this sexy man. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Felix’s lips, and Felix moaned softly as he worked himself open with his own spit. Then he pulled away from Sylvain suddenly.

“Need...” he panted, and shifted to the other side of the bed, reaching between the wall and the mattress and pulling out a bottle of lube. Sylvain felt breathless at the thought of Felix doing this to himself often enough to already own a bottle. He poured a generous amount on his fingers and slid a third finger in himself with a gasp. Sylvain strained in his pants as he leaned down to kiss Felix some more, pressing their erections together for friction. He wanted Felix so bad now. He couldn’t take the sight of him so desperate like this. 

Felix’s fingers suddenly slid under his waistband, squeezing and rubbing him to the rhythm of his fingers thrusting inside of himself, and Sylvain felt his eyes rolling back into his head. Felix removed his hand suddenly, leaving Slyvain yearning for more.

“I’m ready,” he told Sylvain in a soft voice. Sylvain quickly pushed his boxers down to release himself and carefully lined himself up, He slid in slowly, and Felix’s lips fell open with a shudder and a gasp.

“Goddess, you’re so big,” Felix said in a breathy voice, and Sylvain honestly felt that all the way to his dick. It was clear to him that Felix had never taken another before, and that felt amazing to him in a way. Sylvain waited a moment to allow Felix to get used to the feeling of him inside, but he was urged to move soon by Felix’s thrusting hips.

Sylvain started moving slowly, but soon lost himself in Felix’s groans and moans encouraging him to take him harder and faster. Felix felt so good around him, and he never knew someone could feel this good. 

Felix came with a soft cry without even having to touch himself, and that’s all Sylvain needed to take him over the edge as he came inside Felix only moments later, pressing a kiss onto Felix’s open mouth.

Sylvain let himself collapse over Felix after he carefully pulled out of him, and Felix absentmindedly rubbed his back. The two of them basked in the glow of sex, happy and content in one anothers arms. Sylvain pressed a kiss into Felix’s chin even though he really shouldn’t. Felix smiled slightly at it, and maybe for a moment they could pretend to be lovers. Call it drunken stupidity.

Sylvain soon fell asleep right there, wrapped around Felix.

.

Sylvain woke up with a start, and for the first time in a long time his sleep hadn’t been plagued by nightmares. Next to him and still fast asleep, was Felix, who had a soft, unguarded expression. Sylvain stared at it for a while before he remembered himself. He slowly moved off the bed, doing his best to not wake Felix. Luckily they hadn’t been too particularly tangled up in one another.

Sylvain gathered his clothes off the floor, quickly pulling them on and racing out of there like a bat out of hell. He had made a huge mistake. He had to make sure he wasn’t seen leaving here or recognized for a while. He never went home with anyone, no matter how much he acted like a womanizer, he couldn’t change the fact that he couldn’t get it up for a single one of them. He couldn’t let be found out who he had lain with at night. It would put Felix in unnecessary danger.

He pulled his cowl up over his hair and prayed that he wasn’t recognized. Goddess, he was stupid. He’d never drink again. He promised.

Once he was back to the main residence, the butler greeted him as if he hadn’t been gone for a whole night for the first time. Perhaps they’d expected him to do this eventually. He barely acknowledged the man, going straight to his room and asking one of the maids to draw a bath. Sylvain was already tired.

* * *

Felix woke up to knocking at his door and all alone. The dull ache in his hips told him that it hadn’t been a dream though. He had a mild headache, and with Sylvain leaving like that he was feeling all kinds of moody and unpleasant. He had at least wanted it to last a little longer. He pulled some pants and a shirt on before opening the door.

“Oh thank god,” Ingrid immediately said when she saw Felix’s face. Then her expression immediately turned to a surprised one.

“Oh, are we ...interrupting?” she asked, motioning towards Caspar and Ashe who were whispering something to each other.

“No?” Felix responded, perplexed by why she asked that, completely unaware of all the hickeys he sported on his neck. Ashe covered his mouth with his hand, shoulders shaking with held laughter.

“Ok,” Ingrid responded and entered slowly, extremely wary of this Felix she did not recognize at all. Felix didn’t have one night stands, and yet, there was no other human being in the apartment.

“So,” Caspar began, because he was the only one that lacked enough tact to dare beg the question, “One night stand?” Felix frowned slightly.

“Yeah,” he said dismissively, hoping they’d all leave it at that. He would never say who with. No, he’d take that to his grave. Honestly, with the way Sylvain kept leaving him after each time, Felix had to either resign himself to being a sex not friend or start declining to having contact with Sylvain from then on. While the latter choice was probably the right one, he was more likely to choose the first the moment Sylvain looked at him with those smoldering brown eyes.

“Wait, really?” Ingrid gasped. Ashe was laughing again, not nearly as restrained as the first time. Felix glared at her. He wasn’t repeating himself. 

“Wow, never really pegged you as the type,” Caspar said after a moment, while Ingrid appeared to be having an internal meltdown over this news.

“It’s good you’re putting yourself out there though,” Ashe spoke up, “You’ve been alone for as long as we’ve known you, and I know you aren’t disinterested in it. So it’s nice to know you might find happiness some point.” Felix felt himself bristle at Ashe’s words. He was trying to be kind, but in reality Felix was on the same shit he’s always been. Felix avoided meeting Ashe’s gaze, busying himself with pulling his hair into a ponytail. 

“Are you sure you ok with that though?” Ingrid asked him, touching his shoulder gently. Felix shrugged her hand off.

“Quit mothering me. I’m fine,” he responded, but he’d made it obvious that he wasn’t _ fine _ with that reaction. Ashe looked like he felt bad for Felix, but they gave him space to sort out his thoughts about it. Caspar lugged in some chairs and a table from the hall, and Ashe made them all a small breakfast while they chatted about Annette and Mercedes’s perfect child. The two had waited to find out the gender, and funnily enough, the baby ended up being intersex. So the gender neutral name they had decided on was all the more perfect. 

Felix couldn't really pay much attention to their conversation as his mind was still full of Sylvain. No matter how hard he tried to distract himself from the night before, it just wasn't going away, and Ingrid had been right. He wasn't the type to have one night stands. That was Sylvain's thing clearly.

Even with how depressed he was feeling, he still made sure to eat whatever Ingrid offered to him though not particularly paying attention to what it was.

* * *

Sylvain walked into Dimitri's office. It still felt a little weird to him to meet someone who used to be a friend like this. Dimitri never really seemed to notice if it was uncomfortable for him though, already too excited to see Sylvain to care.

"Sylvain! How are you?" Dimitri smiled, wrapping Sylvain in a sudden hug. 

"I- I'm good, your majesty, really," Sylvain laughed softly, patting Dimitri's back awkwardly. Dimitri pulled away from him with a stern look.

"I keep telling you to stop calling me that," Dimitri responded.

"Well, you're the king now," Sylvain responded, "It'd be a little weird if I didn't show you at least some respect."

"We're in private! Don't worry so much about the public view in my castle, Sylvain," Dimitri responded in a chastising tone, but Sylvain honestly just had a hard time turning it off nowadays. Especially since he rarely removed the mask.

"Have it your way," Sylvain responded with a shrug.

“So, I hear someone’s after your life? Byleth managed to deliver one here, but they killed themself while they were in holding,” Dimitri started, looking rather worried about Sylvain. Honestly, Sylvain couldn’t care less. It was his parents who were losing it over the threat, and as far as he was concerned, they could suffer.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. They’re hardly trying,” Sylvain responded, waving off the threats to his life. 

“I would beg to differ,” Dimitri rebuked, “Felix is just very good at his job. You should’ve been dead twice.” Sylvain felt anger rush through him.

“And who decided to let Felix guard me? It was _ you _ wasn’t it? You put him in danger!” Sylvain snapped, and Dimitri smiled.

“It’s good to see you’re still the same as ever,” he replied, “I can remove him from the team if you want.” Sylvain covered his face with a hand, trying to bottle his anger back up. After all, Felix was fine. He was fine.

“Please,” Sylvain spoke softly, not elaborating on his thoughts. Dimitri laughed slightly at Sylvain’s expression, but it was in good nature.

“You should tell him how you feel,” Dimitri told Sylvain carelessly, and Sylvain frowned at him.

“And you know I could never do that,” he responded, “You remember what happened to Fauna.” Dimitri’s smile faded.

“Right. How could I forget,” he sighed, falling back into a chair, and motioning for Sylvain to join him at the table. Sylvain sat quickly, reaching for a biscuit.

“I’m sorry I can’t remove your parents from power. It’d cause too much of a stir,” Dimitri said with regret. His eyes went dark, and he looked like he wanted to snap their necks himself. Sylvain shook his head.

“I know,” Sylvain said, “I’ve told you not to worry so much about me. It’s ok for me to suffer as long as Felix is safe.” 

“So you know then,” Dimitri said, “Did Ingrid tell you?” He poured himself and Sylvain tea, pausing to smell his cup happily for drinking it.

“Hmm... no one told me,” Sylvain replied, sipping the tea carefully, “I just figured it out on my own, and I wish I hadn’t.” Sylvain looked like he was repenting rather deeply, and Dimitri merely looked on in sympathy.

“What did you do?” he asked. He wasn’t being judgmental. Dimitri did his best to hear all of Sylvain’s problems as he was the only one who could be entrusted with them. There was no way Dimitri would share a single weakness of Sylvain’s. The information would have to pried out of the king’s cold, dead hands.

“You’ll hear from Ingrid. She’ll be livid,” Sylvain chuckled, mostly at the idea of Ingrid not knowing how to deal with Felix doing something so out of character for him. Dimitri shook his head with a small smile on his face.

“You really should stop antagonizing her. She’s trying her best for the both of you, even though she doesn’t get why you two don’t just get together,” Dimitri said. Sylvain smiled slightly.

“And she doesn’t need to,” he replied. Dimitri nodded in agreement.

“She has enough on her plate,” he agreed, After that, the two of them mostly sat in silence, enjoying the quiet and the taste of the tea. 

* * *

Felix wasn’t given a moment to brood alone by Ingrid, and he probably didn’t need it but he would like some time alone. He didn’t understand why they had to drag him out again to yet another bar. Although this time there was a trivia night thing that Ingrid had apparently promised to do with Flayn and her older brother, Seteth. 

With the way Ingrid looked at Seteth, he understood why she had considered the event non-negotiable. Felix didn’t mind Seteth either. The guy was pretty easy to get along with, but mostly Felix let Ingrid and Flayn do all the talking, while Seteth answered most of the trivia questions with enthusiasm. Ashe did his best to compete with Seteth, but honestly, the man’s trivia prowess was beyond any of them. 

Felix was mostly just bored the whole time. Though he didn’t see much opportunity to escape, so he just drank and hung out, loosening up slowly over time enough to say a few words occasionally, mostly to Ashe, who was getting a bit depressed by being outdone for the first time at trivia night. 

Felix left early, in the end. It sucked being there, and it wasn’t helping with his restless thoughts. He just needed to get out and breathe some air. He wished he could see Sylvain. Felix absentmindedly covered the hickeys on his neck with a hand and sighed. He was bad at this. Bad at forgetting, moving on. How many years has he been stuck on Sylvain now? Over five? And with barely a thing to show for it. 

“Felix?” a surprised voice spoke. He turned to look at who called him, and it was Ignatz, with a completely wasted Sylvain hanging off of him. Sylvain was even more drunk than the night before.

“Mind giving me a hand with him?” Ignatz asked. He sounded exhausted, and so Felix, despite scowling, walked over and took up on Sylvain’s other side. 

“Does he always get this drunk?” Felix asked, scowling at the smell of alcohol that Sylvain reeked of.

“More nights than not,” Ignatz responded with a chuckle. It was more of an exasperated laugh than anything else, and Felix had never had night watch with Sylvain except when he went to big events and needed more eyes on him. 

The two made slow progress to the carriage, and Felix found himself riding along with Ignatz back to Sylvain’s residence since the thought of Ignatz solo carrying the unresponsive man up three flights of stairs to his room weighed heavily on his mind. Felix wanted to run away more than anything else though.

“Sorry to drag you along,” Ignatz said with an awkward smile, “I really appreciate the help though.” Felix sighed, crossing his arms.

“It’s fine,” he responded, staring out of the carriage window and trying to not think about Sylvain was leaned into Ignatz’s shoulder across from him. It was a stupid thing to feel jealous over. They didn’t particularly talk to each other the rest of the way until they were halfway up the stairs and Ignatz stumbled a bit on a stair.

“I can take him from here,” Felix said suddenly, “Get some rest. It’s obvious that you’re pushing yourself.” Felix shifted Sylvain over and lifted him up on his back. Ignatz looked surprised, but also a little relieved. 

“Th-thanks,” he said, sitting on the stairs with a sigh. Felix didn’t bother to respond, making the rest of the way up the stairs faster now that Ignatz wasn’t slowing him down. Apparently the movement stirred Sylvain a little by the time he made it to the top of the stairs.

“...smells good,” Sylvain spoke softly into Felix’s shoulder, arms wrapping around his neck. Felix ignored it, continuing on to Sylvain’s room. The problem arose when Sylvain wouldn’t let go.

“Come on, Sylvain. Let go,” Felix said, both of them sitting on Sylvain’s bed while he attempted to pry open Sylvain’s locked fingers. Instead, Sylvain pulled them both back onto his bed, adjusting his grip to be around his shoulders instead.

“This is a nice dream...” Sylvain breathed sleepily against Felix’s nape, “I wish I could see you in my bed for real.” Felix remained stiff next to Sylvain, afraid of the expression Sylvain might be making and his heart thundering in his chest. Why was Sylvain always saying things like that to him when they were alone? It wasn’t good for his heart at all.

“...Sylvain,” Felix spoke softly, pushing at Sylvain’s arms and just barely wriggling underneath them and escaping. Once he was a safe distance from Sylvain, he sighed softly. He glanced back at Sylvain’s sleeping form. His arms were now wrapped around a pillow, and he looked so lonely. Did Sylvain really always get that drunk at night?

* * *

“So, I think we’ve tracked down the assassins,” Byleth announced, but he had a slightly perturbed expression on his face. Felix might’ve missed it if he hadn’t known his boss for years, and it didn’t exactly spell good news for them.

“Alright! Let’s take them out,” Caspar responded cheerfully, but Byleth shook his head.

“Their leader is our employer’s older brother, Miklan. I’m going to have to speak with our employer to find out how he would like to proceed with this information in mind,” Byleth responded, handing a file over to Ingrid. He had Ingrid and Felix join him at Sylvain’s residence for the meeting, and Felix wished he wasn’t there. He didn’t really know what expression to put on his face or want to know how Sylvain would react to all of this. It was clear that Miklan was... twisted now.

Sylvain was sitting in his office with a mountain of paperwork and looked like he was still nursing a hangover from the night before. He barely registered when they came in, scribbling away on a document. Byleth quietly sat on the couch and waited, and Felix wanted to pace around but forced himself to stand still near the door.

“Sorry to make you wait,” Sylvain said after a moment, taking a sip from a tea cup on his desk. He then rose from his chair and walked to sit across Byleth, “So what brings you all here today? Good news, I hope.” 

“Well, we have tracked down the assassins base of operations, and their leader is definitely holed up there as well, however-”

“That sounds like splendid news! When are you going to take them out then?” Sylvain asked with a bright smile that seemed a bit forced. Byleth hesitated.

“You see, the leader is-” 

Sylvain interjected again, “I don’t care about that. I already knew.” He looked tired for just a moment before his fake nobleman’s smile returned. Felix didn’t like seeing Sylvain like this and felt his fists tighten at his sides.

“Ah, I see,” Byleth responded. He then motioned for Ingrid to pass over the file of information they had collected, “As you can see from what Ingrid just gave you, they’re holed up here in your territory. Their leader is guaranteed to be there in two days, so we’ll attack then.” Sylvain nodded along as Byleth continued to explain and inform him of the final cost for them to take out the group. Sylvain’s mask didn’t break a single time. He seemed like he wanted to know as little information about it as possible. 

Felix was glad when they were finally able to leave the room. It was strange that Sylvain had known the whole time that his brother was the assailant, even more so that he wouldn’t mention it before ... _ oh _. He had been hoping they would succeed. 

Felix was pissed. He was pissed. The rest of the day passed in an enraged blur while he waited for the moment he would be allowed free so he could go punch Sylvain in his stupid face. How dare he say all of that to _ him _ and torture himself and allow someone a real chance at stealing his life. 

The moment he was able to, Felix went back to Sylvain’s mansion and stormed right into Sylvain’s office and punched him _ hard _in the face because he deserved it. Felix’s feelings were probably hurt, but he didn’t want to think about any of that. Instead, he just wanted to get all of his frustrations out with Sylvain in a punch.

Sylvain looked extremely surprised from where he was now lying on the floor beneath Felix, and Felix drew his fist back to punch him again because he should know. He should _ know _. 

“Are you crying?” Sylvain asked in a small voice, his hand catching Felix’s weak second punch. Felix glared at him, but there were tears in his eyes. He didn’t want to talk about it though. He just wanted the pain in his chest to go away.

“No,” he responded in an equally quiet voice, but his fist was shaking in Sylvain’s grasp, and Sylvain smiled slightly at him, reaching up to cup Felix’s cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he told him gently, and Felix stared at Sylvain in the warm evening light for a long moment, wishing the feeling in his chest would disappear. Sylvain looked like himself for a moment, like they had been transported back in time before they knew what responsibility was. Felix’s shoulders trembled.

“Why would you let him to kill you? You never did anything wrong,” Felix spoke suddenly, breaking the thick silence between them. Sylvain averted his gaze.

“I...” he started, letting the word hang in the air for a moment as he struggled to think, “I don’t really have an answer to that.” Sylvain looked pained. Felix frowned at him. Sylvain glanced up at him with a tired expression.

“I never wanted you to hate me too,” he said. 

“I never hated you,” Felix responded, and after a moment added, “...stupid.” Sylvain laughed at that, and Felix stood up, allowing Sylvain to get up as well. Sylvain rubbed the back of his head gently. 

Sylvain opened his mouth to say something else, but the glass shattered. Felix immediately leaped forward to push Sylvain back down, but he was a moment too slow. There was an arrow in Sylvain’s shoulder.

Felix looked toward the window to see where the sniper might be hiding, and the doors to the office swung open. Caspar came rushing in, swinging the doors shut behind him.

“Help me barricade the door,” he said to Felix, who quickly stood, pushing the couch over to Caspar. 

“Sylvain’s been shot,” Felix said, regretfully. Sylvain was holding a hand to the arrow in his shoulder with his eyes screwed shut with pain. 

“The others should be here soon, so he’ll be alright,” Caspar responded. Felix didn’t respond, breaking off the end of the arrow.

“Hey, don’t pass out,” Felix told Sylvain in a soft voice, looking over Sylvain’s complexion and hoping the arrow hadn’t been poisoned. He didn’t get much more time to think about it when a pair of black clad people came in through the broken window. 

Felix stood, unsheathing his sword, and Caspar threw a chair at them with ease, following after it with a large hammer in hand. Felix remained in place as a thud came on the barricaded door. He had to keep them from finishing off Sylvain if they broke through. Caspar kept both of the assassins busy and on the defensive with each powerful swing, and honestly he moved far faster with that heavy thing than should be possible. Felix had once seen a blow from Caspar’s hammer literally shatter the plate a soldier had been wearing.

The doors finally broke open after Caspar had finally finished taking down the two from the window, and more men than the pair of them could possibly handle began leaping over the couch and into the room. It would’ve been nice if they had someone with a bow to shoot at them as they came in, and Caspar threw several pieces of furniture at them, but it didn’t do much to slow them down. Felix slid into a fighting stance, fully prepared to meet the goddess this time. He was a man of his word after all, he and Sylvain would die together or not at all.

It was difficult for Felix to stay in place when fighting someone. He was more used to moving around, dizzying his opponent by being everywhere at once. Even though he was less comfortable in a guard stance, he still managed to avoid sustaining much damage though he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep that up. It required a lot of effort to constantly deflect blows, and he was quick with a sword, but he had few opportunities to strike back. 

“Sylvain!” a loud voice suddenly shouted, and Felix knew that voice. Sylvian had barely managed to sit up behind Felix, hand still pressed around the remainder of the arrow in his shoulder. 

“Miklan,” Sylvain said in a soft voice. He didn’t sound like he had much fight left him, and that made Felix only fight harder. Caspar had somehow battled his way to Felix’s side, his hammer covered in blood splatter.

“I have come to kill you, my brother. Surrender and I will spare your guards,” Miklan spoke in lofty tone. He smirked when his eyes fell on Felix, who was already breathing a little hard from taking down so many other soldiers and still locked in battle with one. 

“Don’t you want to shove it to our parents? This is the best way!” Miklan continued with an insane laugh, “Their eldest kills the heir and then himself! They’ll be social pariahs! They’ll finally have something they can’t sweep under the carpet.” He brandished the lance in his hands, wild eyes focused only on his already weakened brother.

“They could just adopt another heir. If you’re so bent on hurting them, why not kill them?” Sylvain asked with a grimace.

“I don’t want to kill them, Sylvain. I want them to suffer as I have,” Miklan responded, and Sylvain honestly couldn’t think of a scarier way to think about it. Was it even possible to torture their parents? Those two were as unfeeling as demons. As long as they still had their titles, fortune and business, he couldn’t see them caring about something else.

“I’m not sure this will do that,” Sylvain responded softly. Felix almost flinched when Miklan ran at him. He was at a clear disadvantage against Miklan’s lance. Especially since moving forward left Sylvain vulnerable. So he was left on the defensive against every swing and thrust of Miklan’s lance. Miklan was laughing as he attacked Felix, who only grimaced in response. 

Byleth burst into the room just as things were beginning to look truly dire, sword in hand. He ran up behind Miklan and cut him down swiftly. Sylvain gasped painfully, watching his brother fall before him. Felix quickly sheathed his sword, turning to Sylvain and pulling Sylvain’s face to look at him. He stared at Sylvain’s complexion, ensuring he hadn’t been poisoned. Mercedes was next to them moments later.

“Just the arrow wound?” Mercedes asked, “Poison?” 

“Yeah, just the arrow. Doesn’t look like it was poisoned,” Felix responded, pulling the arrow out quickly and moving out of the way, so Mercedes could start healing him. Sylvain looked like he might pass out, and Caspar clasped Felix on the shoulder.

“I thought we were going to die for sure!” he was laughing and in good spirits at the win. Felix covered his face with his hands, taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, me too,” he responded, standing and turning away from Sylvain. It was hard to look at wounds closing with magic. It made his stomach turn.

“You two did great. Ashe and Ingrid are ok, though they’ll be staying in the hospital for safe measure,” Byleth told them. He sent the two of them away, and once they were outside, the clean up crew had arrived with several wagons. It really looked like it was all over.

* * *

Sylvain recovered from his injuries and went to the capital to meet with Dimitri to confirm his condition or something. Dimitri probably just wanted to talk to him and just used the first excuse he could think of.

“It’s just too bad that my parents were behind the assassination attempts. It would’ve made everything so much easier,” Sylvain complained. Dimitri nodded, sipping his tea with an absent expression.

“What are you thinking about, your kingly-ness?” Sylvain asked with an interested expression. Dimitri smiled slightly.

“I believe some of Miklan’s assassin group are going to target your parents’ villa tonight. I recommend staying here for the evening,” Dimitri said thoughtfully. Sylvain looked surprised, then he smiled. 

“Of course, I’ll let my butler know to prepare for me to spend a night here,” he responded.

“For your safety,” Dimitri replied, “I’m worried about your recovery.” Sylvain nodded. 

“Of course,” he agreed, “My parents won’t be able to argue if it’s an invitation from your highness.”

.

Felix was confused that he his presence had been requested by the King. When he arrived, his clothes were even changed, and he was taken to an empty room to wait, feeling extremely confused and uncomfortable. He hadn’t spoken to Dimitri since they were children. He paced around the room, trying to quiet his mind.

“Fe-Felix?” Felix turned to see Sylvain looking both surprised and scandalized. Felix was also surprised to see Sylvain, but it didn’t show on his face. 

“They dressed you up,” Sylvain stated, regaining his composure. His gaze made Felix feel a little uncomfortable.

“Apparently my usual clothes aren’t suited to meet a king,” Felix responded with an irritated expression. Sylvain smiled slightly.

“You look good,” he said with an expression that Felix had only seen him use when he was drunk. It made his breath catch. Was Sylvain drunk again? Felix felt his face flush.

“I guess,” he said, looking away from Sylvain. Sylvain stepped into Felix’s space, and he was honestly too close for Felix’s comfort. 

“Can I tell you something?” Sylvain breathed, and Felix felt a shiver run down his spine. He unconciously leaned in closer to Sylvain. Felix would probably kick himself for this later. Their lips connected for a moment before Sylvain said what he wanted to, but Felix didn’t care. He’d rather do this than hear more empty words. Sylvain pushed a hand into Felix’s hair, pulling him further into the kiss.

“Felix!” Dimitri said cheerfully, bursting into the room, “It’s been too-” The king paused for a moment, “You beat me here, Sylvain.” The two broke apart immediately, both red faced from embarrassment, likely because they’d been caught. Dimitri was smiling at the two of them in amusement.

“We-” Sylvain started, and Dimitri waved his hand.

“Don’t make me feel worse for interrupting,” he said cheerfully, “I just wanted to thank Felix for saving your life.” He then turned to Felix, “How would you like to become a knight?” 

“No thanks,” Felix responded immediately. Dimitri seemed unbothered by the speed of his answer.

“Ok, no problem. See you,” he waved at the two of them and left. Shutting it behind himself, still grinning. It was silent for a long moment after Dimitri left. Felix took a step away from Sylvain as well, putting some distance between them. He didn’t really know what to say to break the awkward silence.

“So, uh... how did Dimitri lose the eye?” Felix asked, since it was the first thing he thought of once a decent portion of his embarrassment had faded. Sylvain finally looked at him then, but immediately looked away again.

“Oh, a cat rejected him,” Sylvain responded with an awkward laugh. 


	2. Afterward

“Felix, you know I think you’re prettier than that maid,” Sylvain said in a desperate tone, and Felix turned around and kicked Sylvain right in the crotch.

“Shut up, rabbit. I literally caught her on top of you,” Felix responded with a growl. Sylvain held himself, knees shaking. 

“That’s-” he spoke in a strained voice, “That’s a misunderstanding! She-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses,” Felix responded dismissively, staring at Sylvain with disdain. Sylvain was desperate to explain though. He hadn’t been doing anything wrong. The maid had thrown herself on him. He was the victim! 

“Wait, please,” Sylvain gathered Felix’s hands in his, “Felix, I did not have an affair with her. She threw herself on me. I know, I know, this isn’t the first time this has happened with a maid, and I will not hire another one. I will only hire men that my butler approves of from now on, so  _ please _ .” 

“You don’t have to go that far,” Felix muttered, blushing. They were standing in the middle of the  foyer, and the servants were staring at the two of them. Felix’s hands were trembling, and he still looked a little upset. Sylvain leaned down to kiss Felix, but Felix pulled away before he could. 

“Can we talk about this later?” Felix asked in a quiet voice.

“Of course, dear. It’s whatever you want,” Sylvain responded with a smile, and Felix pulled away, leaving in a hurry. Sylvain was left alone at the house, but as long as Felix didn’t leave angry it would be alright. 

Later that night Sylvain was proved correct in this assumption when his husband kissed him breathless beneath the sheets. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This wasn't supposed to be this long, lmao

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
